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So to quickly summarise, this blog is just why I think the viewer numbers for League of Legends are much higher than Starcraft 2. I will look at it from a player and spectator viewpoint.
How the games Play
Starcraft 2
Starcraft 2 is a beautifully complex game as we all know. Three races with an infinite number of potential build orders, a meta game that keeps changing, styles and popularity in builds, etc. However one thing that Starcraft 2 has more than most RTS, is the Fear of PvP competition, or as its been termed for SC2 "Ladder Fear". Its a very real thing, I partially get it myself. Its a brutal and very unforgiving game, where 10-50 minutes of heart-racing work can be totally thrown in your face from 1 mistake.
There is also a slightly different reason that is, what am I actually competing for? The chance to play more skilled players who are more likely to own me. Some types of gamers thrive on this endless competition without reward, but many do not, myself included.
While SC2 is a fantastic RTS, the expansion potential for it is extremely limited. 2 Expansions are planned and they will not make it a new game. Apart from that, Blizzard can't really do much except from balance patches. This game will eventually hit a dead end, I pray that eSports and the players who enjoy the game are enough to keep it going strong.
League of Legends
League of Legends is not as complex but it does have more diversity. Yes you may argue the number of SC2 strategies far outnumber the Champions and team compositions in LoL, but you are still playing the same race, just slightly differently. Playing as a totally different Character, who has different attacks, gears up differently, looks, sounds differently. Everything is just different about each one.
The PvP is also less intimidating in LoL, you are still punished for making a mistake, but it doesn't lose you the game as easily as it will in SC2. I don't really have any kind of "Ladder Fear" in LoL, like I partially do in SC2. I will just add, in my experience so far in LoL, PvP is actually EASIER than playing vs the intermediate AI. The Bots in LoL don't really make mistakes that you can jump on, but players do.
Unlike SC2 you actually are competing for something tangible in LoL. For those unaware, you receive Exp and IP for winning or losing a game, the amount varies depending on the game itself. Exp adds to your Account level, 1-30. Increasing this unlocks new special spells you can use in the game itself, as well as new talent points or masteries. Also runes which give passive buffs to you in game as well. The IP currency is used to unlock new champions, as well as different Skins for them, along with the runes I mentioned above. You will run out of things to buy eventually, but that would take a long time. They also add new champions in frequently.
One thing LoL has that SC2 does not, is a teamplay focus. While SC2 does have team play options, they are not what the game is designed for and are usually just void ray/carrier brawls with no coordination at all 99% of the time. LoL has 3v3 and 5v5 options, you can't go 1v1 with a stranger (unless you form a custom game with that person specifically). People are just as angry and QQ'y as they can be in SC2, but team work happens more often in LoL. Each game is different due to the different compositions, it goes back to the very first line I said, there is more Diversity in LoL.
This style of game is hugely popular, easy to play, easy to watch, and not limited in terms of expanding. I've only played for about a month and they've added 2 new champions in that time. The eSports is a different beast all together, but to play these games will just keep growing and growing and growing.
To Spectate the Games
Starcraft 2
I'm sure some of you by now assume I'm a SC2 hatin, LoL fanboy. You could not be more wrong. I only discovered SC2 eSports at Blizzcon in 2010 when Genius won the finals, but since then I've been hooked like crazy. I've cancelled my cable because I never watch it, I've quit some MMO's because I never play them, purely because I devote so much of my time to watching SC2 eSports. I love it, its the greatest thing in the world and I hope it keeps on getting better forever.
BUT its not exactly the easiest thing to start watching if you don't know the game. Thankfully I did know SC2 when I watched the Blizzcon 2010 finals (out of boredom, I was watching WoW panels live, forgive me..). so I was able to understand most of what I was seeing. However I'm sure a lot of readers will know that getting a non SC2 gamer into SC2 eSports can be really difficult. It took me about a whole freaking year to get my best friend into watching it, he's since bought the game and loves all of it, but still. Getting him in was a massive hurdle, it has been for other friends as well. The game has a lot of stagnation in the beginning stages, we know why that is, but non SC2 gamers have no idea. It requires so much explanation that they usually just get bored and go back to whatever the hell people who don't watch eSports do.
Once you get someone over the introductory hurdle they are highly likely to love it, but that hurdle is pretty huge. It can also be difficult for them to find anything to watch without you holding their hand the entire time. Its not on the TV, its spread across various websites at various times, most of which are terrible for live viewing (in Europe especially), and most of those websites are horrific to nagivate, even for regulars!
Side Note: eSports companies, Simplify your damn websites
League of Legends
Now, would I call LoL a better eSport? No. Would I say its a more popular eSport, absolutely. The reasons are obvious, so obvious I'll just make a list:
1. Its easy to watch, some characters attack each other, some win some die. Swords, Magic etc.
2. While LoL is also hidden away on websites, Riot advertise those in the game client itself.
3. It will be more popular purely because it has more players. Until eSports truly penetrate the non-gamer market like non-sports get into non-sports players markets, then this is a big deciding point.
The complexity and pure beautiful skill that pro SC2 gamers have is a big part of what makes SC2 eSports the winner for me, but that takes time to appreciate. It goes back to the main point, the barrier to entry for SC2 eSports spectating is much larger than LoL.
Summary
The games themselves are very different. The skill and complexity of SC2 will always reign supreme, but the noob-friendliness and diversity of playability for LoL will also be supreme. The expandability of LoL will also keep going, where as SC2 will not.
To watch them is also very different. The complexity of SC2 is part of what makes it so awesome to watch, but for new spectators, understanding what they are seeing takes time and babysitting from someone who does know. Whereas LoL is almost exactly the opposite.
I would love for SC2 to take over the world and be on TV around the clock, but for several years at least LoL will stay ahead of it on viewer numbers and is likely to keep growing, probably at a faster rate than SC2.
Let me reclarify. I'm pro SC2. I don't prioritise watching LoL, I only check it out when I'm bored at work and there's no SC2 I want to watch.
Thanks for reading.
- Tristran
tl;dr: I type too much.
 
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SC2 complex?
1a.
User was warned for this post
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Something important as a variable for Starcraft 2 changing is the maps. This may be the most important part in how strategy involves or changes. Remember when steppes of war was a map? (maybe not if your new) Anyways its a very small map that was featured in very early tournaments and ladder, resulting in many rushes. Could you imagine 15 nexus on Steppes of War PvT. Also the game will not only change with balance patches but with new units, with the new expansions. 1-2 New unit per race changes almost every strategy for every matchup/how they are played.
Also LoL skins can only be bought with real money aka RP.  Additionally, in LoL many champions are pretty close copys to each other. Very similar roles/abilities. Also competitive LoL (5v5) is only played on one map. Items are another thing, some are just bad and need to be fixed, and some are a similar working worst counter part of another. Champions who fit into different roles usually has similar item builds in similar situations.
Not hating on either but just mentioning a few things I thought about your thoughts.
Overall I play both SC2 and LoL a lot. With SC2 being a more serious I want to win game, and LoL being a casual I want to play games game. Both are good games, and good esports. I would SC2 the advantage for watching for sure because of its faster paced action.
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Nice read 
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Interesting take on it. I think you will find that LoL ranked games at level 30 have their fair share of 'ladder anxiety' as well. And as you level up your opponents are harder in LoL, just like you said you didn't like in starcraft 2.
Also, bots are harder than players? Where are these players you are beating on! ; )
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Well, counterpoint from someone who tried but can't get into watching LOL: It is very often quite boring. Nothing happens until the 15 min mark, and then there are huge lulls in battle. Matches are almost always 30-40 minutes long, and there are five players to follow and track instead of one player -- meaning you don't even get to see everything.
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I find it hard to believe that sc2 is harder to understand than LoL. I tried watching LoL and I couldn't figure out what's going on. Everything's a spell caster and without understanding what spells are being thrown around and what effect they have it's really hard to keep watching. On the other hand if you show someone a TvZ i would imagine they'd be able to understand what they're seeing. Bugs vs humans. I mean everyone's watched aliens or starship troopers before right?
I remember when I first started watching bw i didn't like it when the game went into the late game just because there's so many different kinds of units and spellcasters. With the dozens of champions of LoL it's even more confusing. I'm not saying sc2 is easy to understand, something like counter strike is a lot simpler although once the basics are down sc2 is more spectator friendly. SC2 could improve in many ways though, like changing the way the units clump up. The action can get pretty confusing when deathballs are out especially if the casters dont have the decency to turn healthbars off.
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At least LoL community doesn't entitle themselves as the ONLY ESPORTS game like SC2 community so ridiculously often do.
..or do they?
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LoL is a social game you play with friends. i would never have played LoL alone because that is probably the most surefire way to become one of those solo queue tryhards that blame teammates for their own shortcomings.
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On February 23 2012 03:33 Mementoss wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Something important as a variable for Starcraft 2 changing is the maps. This may be the most important part in how strategy involves or changes. Remember when steppes of war was a map? (maybe not if your new) Anyways its a very small map that was featured in very early tournaments and ladder, resulting in many rushes. Could you imagine 15 nexus on Steppes of War PvT. Also the game will not only change with balance patches but with new units, with the new expansions. 1-2 New unit per race changes almost every strategy for every matchup/how they are played. Also LoL skins can only be bought with real money aka RP. Additionally, in LoL many champions are pretty close copys to each other. Very similar roles/abilities. Also competitive LoL (5v5) is only played on one map. Items are another thing, some are just bad and need to be fixed, and some are a similar working worst counter part of another. Champions who fit into different roles usually has similar item builds in similar situations. Not hating on either but just mentioning a few things I thought about your thoughts. Overall I play both SC2 and LoL a lot. With SC2 being a more serious I want to win game, and LoL being a casual I want to play games game. Both are good games, and good esports. I would SC2 the advantage for watching for sure because of its faster paced action.
Yea the potential for Starcraft 2 isn't completely dead, its just severely limited. The expansions will be large changes and as the meta game keeps advancing the game will keep changing, but there is a limit. Unless Blizzard has plans to add in new units or do massive changes in patches after the 2 expansions, then the only change is meta-game. Maps are a nice point, but even they are quite limited also. People have had years to learn about maps from BW.
On February 23 2012 03:37 Eben wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Interesting take on it. I think you will find that LoL ranked games at level 30 have their fair share of 'ladder anxiety' as well. And as you level up your opponents are harder in LoL, just like you said you didn't like in starcraft 2.
Also, bots are harder than players? Where are these players you are beating on! ; )
The AI I'm reffering to is the intermediate co-op vs ai thing. They have proven to be more difficult than random PvP 5v5 so far. I guess I must play a lot of noobs I'm not 30 yet, I'm lvl 14 atm.
I'm sure that ranked lvl 30 games have more of the ladder fear, but still not as severe as SC2. Your with a team, you aren't going to lose based on 1 mistake. Both of those crucial points help alleviate the fear.
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+ Show Spoiler +On February 23 2012 03:47 Tristran wrote:Show nested quote +On February 23 2012 03:33 Mementoss wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Something important as a variable for Starcraft 2 changing is the maps. This may be the most important part in how strategy involves or changes. Remember when steppes of war was a map? (maybe not if your new) Anyways its a very small map that was featured in very early tournaments and ladder, resulting in many rushes. Could you imagine 15 nexus on Steppes of War PvT. Also the game will not only change with balance patches but with new units, with the new expansions. 1-2 New unit per race changes almost every strategy for every matchup/how they are played. Also LoL skins can only be bought with real money aka RP. Additionally, in LoL many champions are pretty close copys to each other. Very similar roles/abilities. Also competitive LoL (5v5) is only played on one map. Items are another thing, some are just bad and need to be fixed, and some are a similar working worst counter part of another. Champions who fit into different roles usually has similar item builds in similar situations. Not hating on either but just mentioning a few things I thought about your thoughts. Overall I play both SC2 and LoL a lot. With SC2 being a more serious I want to win game, and LoL being a casual I want to play games game. Both are good games, and good esports. I would SC2 the advantage for watching for sure because of its faster paced action. Yea the potential for Starcraft 2 isn't completely dead, its just severely limited. The expansions will be large changes and as the meta game keeps advancing the game will keep changing, but there is a limit. Unless Blizzard has plans to add in new units or do massive changes in patches after the 2 expansions, then the only change is meta-game. Maps are a nice point, but even they are quite limited also. People have had years to learn about maps from BW. Show nested quote +On February 23 2012 03:37 Eben wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Interesting take on it. I think you will find that LoL ranked games at level 30 have their fair share of 'ladder anxiety' as well. And as you level up your opponents are harder in LoL, just like you said you didn't like in starcraft 2.
Also, bots are harder than players? Where are these players you are beating on! ; ) The AI I'm reffering to is the intermediate co-op vs ai thing. They have proven to be more difficult than random PvP 5v5 so far. I guess I must play a lot of noobs I'm not 30 yet, I'm lvl 14 atm.
I'm sure that ranked lvl 30 games have more of the ladder fear, but still not as severe as SC2. Your with a team, you aren't going to lose based on 1 mistake. Both of those crucial points help alleviate the fear.
You may not lose by one mistake of mis microing your marines into a baneling and that is true. However after the game has reached the 50 minute mark if you mess up and lose one teamfight, its over.
Also in Sc2 you have only yourself to blame, in LoL you get into a ranked game, pumped to win, and then all the sudden one of your 4 other teammates goes 0-5 in the first 7 minutes, giving their Carry a massive lead. Or one of your teammates decides to rage quit, meaning you lose the game, or someone just gets up and goes AFK, causing you to lose the game.
Having to rely on teammates is one of the most frustrating things I can think of. Any one of the 4 random people can lose you the game if they feel like trolling you or are just playing poorly, no matter how well you yourself are playing.
One on One is stressful for sure, but team games in general can be equally frustrating.
I did like your write up though!
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nice read, but some point i would disagree:
1. as someone who plays sc2 regularly since release and just started to play lol out of curiosity, i have to say that is have more "fear" to play lol than sc2. as noobfriendly the lol may be, the lol community is not. in fact, the community is almost unbearable. and this is not even the fault of the players, its the nature of the game. when i screw up in sc2, is only affects my gaming experience, but when i screw up in lol, it effects the gaming experience of my whole team, so naturally you have to deal with flamers, which can be very stressful, or at least annoying. so until the lol community grows up, i wouldn't call lol noobfriendly.
2. what do you mean by blizzard cant do much except balance patches? what is the limitation of a balance patch? you do realize that what lol is doing and what blizzard is doing with their patches is technically the same. blizzard can also add content, they just added a new upgrade. and technically, they COULD add new units through patches (although i dont think they will ever do)
3. i don't see how lol, with 100 of different heros, spells and items is easier to watch for a non-player than sc2. if you simplify if by just saying its some characters attacking each other, you could also say sc2 is just 2 armies attacking each other. in lol, you have also the laning and farming phase, which is boring to watch and the purpose hard to understand if you don't play the game. i would say sc2 is easier to watch if you don't play it than lol.
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On February 23 2012 03:56 tztztz wrote:
nice read, but some point i would disagree:
1. as someone who plays sc2 regularly since release and just started to play lol out of curiosity, i have to say that is have more "fear" to play lol than sc2. as noobfriendly the lol may be, the lol community is not. in fact, the community is almost unbearable. and this is not even the fault of the players, its the nature of the game. when i screw up in sc2, is only affects my gaming experience, but when i screw up in lol, it effects the gaming experience of my whole team, so naturally you have to deal with flamers, which can be very stressful, or at least annoying. so until the lol community grows up, i wouldn't call lol noobfriendly.
2. what do you mean by blizzard cant do much except balance patches? what is the limitation of a balance patch? you do realize that what lol is doing and what blizzard is doing with their patches is technically the same. blizzard can also add content, they just added a new upgrade. and technically, they COULD add new units through patches (although i dont think they will ever do)
3. i don't see how lol, with 100 of different heros, spells and items is easier to watch for a non-player than sc2. if you simplify if by just saying its some characters attacking each other, you could also say sc2 is just 2 armies attacking each other. in lol, you have also the laning and farming phase, which is boring to watch and the purpose hard to understand if you don't play the game. i would say sc2 is easier to watch if you don't play it than lol.
Yeah I pretty much agree with none of this. I'm in masters sc2 and was about 1750 elo in LoL when I stopped playing it, and honestly I fucking hate playing LoL now. There is a huge "entry barrier" to new players, since even in low levels if you do something wrong you will be attacked by your teammates for being a troll, a terrible player, go kill yourself go f*** your mother etc etc.... There's BM in sc2 but since you are only playing versus 1 other player it's much less flagrant since most people are happy to take your ladder points and go on their way. I managed to stick through a lot of the BS and get to a reasonably high elo, and up there it's even worse. There are so many people who just queue up, troll everyone on their team, and get carried to higher levels because the other 4 people are actually trying to play well and win the game.
LoL is 100% easier to watch and play. It's not even close. Yeah, there are a crapload of heroes and spells and such, but here's the concept behind every game. 1. Go to lanes, kill creeps for farm, kill retards on the enemy team that aren't farming and keeping up. 2. Get items with farm. 3. Secure objectives (towers or neutral buffs). 4. Teamfight and win game.
Sc2 is an incredibly simple game when compared to its predecessor, but it still has so much more complexity than a moba style game. There are specific build orders, unit micro tricks, MAPS are a huge factor since you can play on hundreds of different environments as compared to a moba where you play one over and over, and the fact that your opponent's build is completely hidden from you until you scout it. The items of every enemy hero that you ever gain vision of are revealed to all the players in LoL.
I wanted to start playing HoN instead of LoL, but I just got lazy and decided to try to get into grandmasters first. On the real though, it's kind of absurd how simple of a game LoL is.
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I was really afraid to open your blog but I liked your summary. The one point that I might not agree on is that LoL is easier to watch than SC2. I find that once you add the extra players there is a lot of action that is being missed by the spectators and especially during the laning phase. SC2 has an amazing build up to the end game battles. Plenty of time for the casters to talk about strategies and playstyles.
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I dont agree that LoL is easier to watch than SC2, if anything, they're both as hard to watch as any other competitive game. Whenever you watch a pro LoL game you usually see up to 10-15 minutes of passive "farming" because thats how most games go,
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On February 23 2012 04:11 HyperionDreamer wrote:
LoL is 100% easier to watch and play. It's not even close. Yeah, there are a crapload of heroes and spells and such, but here's the concept behind every game. 1. Go to lanes, kill creeps for farm, kill retards on the enemy team that aren't farming and keeping up. 2. Get items with farm. 3. Secure objectives (towers or neutral buffs). 4. Teamfight and win game.
this is a blunt oversimplification, you could do this with sc2 too. lol is only mechanically easier to play. but it's not an easy game in terms of figuring out the best way to win and being able to do it. its like saying soccer is harder than chess. or chess is harder than soccer. if lol would be so easy, you would only see people doing the same thing. but look at pro level lol, the opposite is true. the same for non pro level. as long as you don't have figured out a game, and as long as there is a pro scene, both games are equally hard.
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Completely disagree when you say it's easier to spectate LoL. If you don't know the heroes then you have no idea what's going on in team fights or at any time. SC2 is a lot easier to pick up from a spectators POV as there aren't that many units and they're all pretty simple. Marines shoot stuff, banelings blow shit up.
In any case, I think comparisons like this are about as useful as comparing basketball to cycling.
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I honestly don't even find DotA-type-games entertaining to watch. It's slow, most of the actual complexity and skill of the game is very hard for the spectator to see, it takes forever for anything to happen, and battles are over in a few minutes and are very hard to follow if you don't know what all the spell effects mean. Even if I don't understand the complex strategy in SC2, I can still enjoy massive battles of aliens and marines fighting each other, and easily follow the flow of the game as to who's ahead and behind, who has a bigger army, etc; in LoL, I'm looking at brightly-colored fantasy heroes running around in a forest, and I have very little idea what's going on.
This is not a condemnation of LoL or anything; I can see how it could be very entertaining if you know what's going on and are a LoL player. I just honestly don't really see the appeal of the DotA genre as a spectator sport that will be watched by people who aren't actually playing the game. I can see that with SC2; I just can't with DotA.
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What x.x
LoL is without a doubt harder to understand to the outsider. Starcraft is about units running around hitting each other and blowing stuff up. Forcefields look like barriers. Lasers look like lasers. Explosions hurt. And the bigger base often means the stronger side. The only thing that isn't obvious that hurts are zerglings and hydras in SC2 because their attack sounds like gentle breezes or bugs splattering across windshields.
LoL is a lot more difficult to understand in that respect. Sure while the density of each player's health bar is a decent indicator of how much punishment they can take, their abilities aren't immediately obvious. Nor are items completely obvious in what they do. Creep ai is also incredibly difficult to understand. Laning phase looks stupidly boring to someone who doesn't understand how it works and the intricacies behind it, teamfights finish in seconds and often just look like a giant explosion of lights. Even to a seasoned veteran they often have to watch the same fight half a dozen times to catch everything.
That being said I still think Starcraft is still the more difficult of the two to play simply because there's a higher mechanical skillcap but that's irrelevant to spectator difficulty.
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United Kingdom14464 Posts
I personally find LoL (and any Moba) almost impossible to watch having never played it, I found SC2 much easier when I first started watching with HD and Husky. I also found Quake and all fighting games much easier, I find Moba's really hard to watch in general.
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EPT
